


Confessions

by mikkimouse



Series: Tumblr Fics [233]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, First Kiss, M/M, Post-Season/Series 06
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 08:34:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15190919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikkimouse/pseuds/mikkimouse
Summary: After the final battle, Shiro finds Keith.





	Confessions

**Author's Note:**

> *joins every Sheith writer in existence in writing a post-s6 fic because feels*

Shiro wakes up, and it takes him longer than it should for him to remember he has a body again. After so long in the astral plane, after so long as a part of Black, it's...weird. 

The body is _his_ —after all, Haggar created it from him—but it's also not his. It's like he's moved back into his childhood home after someone else has lived there for several years, and while things are familiar, there's just enough different that it's strange.

He pulls down the sheet to poke at the scar on his leg. He knows how it got there—the clone got it during his "escape" from the Galra facility—but even though he has the memory, it doesn't have the same connection that it happened to him.  


He has all the clone's memories, still. How fiercely he cared about the team, how much he wanted to do good, how scared he was when he realized something was wrong with him. 

His horror when Keith finally got through to him, the confusion fading into the realization of what he'd done in the split-second before everything came crashing down.

The horrible, crushing guilt isn't Shiro's, but he bears it anyway. 

Shiro hates, _hates_ that he was used for such a purpose, that it was his body, his voice saying those horrible things to Keith, his body that betrayed his entire team, but he also knows the clone didn't chose to be made. Didn't chose to be used for this. And he fought Haggar for as long as he could. 

He traces the outline of the scar on his leg, and then holds his arm to his chest. It's a poor substitute for...for whatever it is that he needs right now.

It's too early in the morning, but he still gets up and goes looking for Keith. 

The sun's just starting to break over the horizon when Shiro finds him outside, going through the boxes they rescued from the Castle, taking inventory. His wolf is sound asleep on the ground beside him, its tail twitching occasionally.

"Keith," Shiro says quietly, and he's not even remotely surprised when Keith immediately turns to him. 

His face breaks into a soft smile. "Shiro, what are you doing up? You should be resting." 

He probably should be, but Shiro can't sleep right now. "I was, but...I..." _I needed to talk to you_. 

Keith frowns. "What's wrong?" 

"I'm sorry," Shiro says, and then corrects himself. " _He's_ sorry." 

Keith's eyes widen. 

"I...He...it..." 

Shiro's never had this much trouble trying to talk to Keith, but he's not just trying to talk for himself. And no matter what, he can't make the words come out in the right order. 

Keith walks over and takes Shiro's hand. "It wasn't your fault," he says firmly. "It wasn't _his_ fault." 

Shiro's eyes trace the scar along Keith's cheek. "It still feels like it."

"It wasn't," Keith says again. "Haggar was in control. We _all_ know Haggar was in control of him. None of us blame either of you." 

He sounds so certain, looks so sure of himself, that Shiro believes it. Something inside him settles, and the guilt that isn't his starts to dissipate for the first time in days. 

Shiro leans forward, and Keith lifts his arms to pull him close. Shiro presses his face into Keith's shoulder and lets himself be held, wraps his arm around Keith's waist to keep him there. 

"He never wanted to hurt you," Shiro whispers, because it feels so, so important that Keith knows that. "He never wanted to hurt any of you." 

Keith cards his fingers through Shiro's hair. "I know. If they made him from you, he wouldn't have wanted to hurt anyone."

His eyes sting with tears, and Shiro fights against letting them fall. "Thank you." 

"For what?" 

"For everything. For finding me. For saving us both." His throat is almost too tight to speak. "For not giving up." 

"I could never give up on you, Shiro," Keith says fiercely. "You never gave up on me. I would have searched the entire universe to find you and bring you back." 

_As many times as it takes_ , Shiro hears in the back of his mind, and now he knows how just how much Keith meant it. In all the time Shiro has known him, Keith has never done anything halfway. He has no idea why he would think this would be any different. 

It's overwhelming to be the focus of that much devotion.

He closes his eyes and tightens his grip on Keith's waist. He should probably go back to his bunk, let Keith finish the work he's doing, but he can't bring himself to let go. 

He needs this; needs to feel Keith's arms around him, needs to know that they're both here and real and that this, at least, hasn't changed. He needs to know that Keith forgives him for everything. 

_I love you_ echoes in his mind, tinged with desperation, and Shiro realizes that as far as Keith is concerned, there's nothing to forgive. 

"Keith," Shiro says. 

"What is it?" 

Shiro pulls back so he can look Keith in the eye, so he can cup Keith's face and trace his thumb along the scar there. "I love you, too." 

He's seen a thousand sunrises on a thousand planets at this point, but not a one of them is as beautiful and brilliant as Keith's smile right now.

Keith covers Shiro's hand with his, then turns his head just enough to kiss Shiro's palm and the inside of his wrist. "I didn't know if you'd remember that." 

Shiro leans over to rest his forehead on Keith's. "How could I forget?" 

Their first kiss is tentative, barely a brush of the lips. But even so, it's enough that Shiro knows it isn't a dream, knows that this is real, that this is Keith with him and this is the culmination of something that's been building between them for who knows how long. It's frightening and freeing and _huge_ , so huge it's a wonder no one else has seen it. Shiro feels like it's radiating off him, like it's a brilliant burst of light everywhere he and Keith touch, like it vibrates in the very air when they look at each other. 

Haggar had called it a weakness. She couldn't have been more wrong. It was stronger than everything in the universe that had tried to tear them apart. No matter the distance, no matter the circumstances, it brought him back to Keith every single time.

_I love you_ , Shiro thinks again, and means it with every fiber of his being. 

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [Tumblr](https://mad-madam-m.tumblr.com/) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/mad_madam_m)!


End file.
